Re-invent; re-invigorate; re-introduce; re-energise; refresh; reveal… As Siemens Enterprise Communications unveil their new name, their new branding and the reality of Project Ansible, I get the feeling that the event is going to be one of those “…do you remember where you were when..?” moments! And not without good reason!

At Zone Se7en, we were glued to our screens and felt the excitement transmitting through the virtual networks! Without doubt, the communications industry has changed significantly and particularly over the last 10 years; a change that what Unify – formerly known as Siemens Enterprise Communications – has grabbed and dared to adapt to in a big way. How many other organisations of this size, with such global recognition – the Siemens name was the 45th most recognised in the world! – have not only the courage, but also the foresight to modernise their applications, improve and enhance their portfolio, and focus their ‘go to market’ strategies, re-brand and re-name? I suspect not many! But in doing so, they are re-inventing unified communications and taking it to the next level.

In his launch speech, Hamid Akhavan, now CEO of the new Unify, explained that the ‘anywhere worker’ is demanding more mobility with better collaboration and virtual tools to connect and engage. Social media platforms, BYOD, enterprise tools, collaborative networks… these are all game-changing phenomenon and Unify has shifted their priorities to develop easier to understand applications, easy to deploy upgrades, easier service offerings including solutions, and the best platform for the cloud!

Chris Hummel, now CCO and President of Unify North America, reiterated his CEO’s thoughts, adding that their partners, their customers were calling for change, demanding a solution that was transformative; that was able to change their marketplace; that was able to deliver an intuitive, powerful platform that will enhance their unified communications.

Akhavan also announced that Unify has formed a Customer Advisory Council and revealed that beta testing of Project Ansible will start in January 2014, and that by July 2014 the first version will be available to customers. The first version of Project Ansible, a dynamic communications and collaboration platform, will be cloud-based, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that is capable of not only working with Unify’s platform, but with other providers platforms. Unify believe that Project Ansible will deliver three critical elements that will transform team collaboration: an engaging user experience to drive user adoption; universal content aggregation into one view; and seamless integration into business processes that will drive business improvement.

So, what does Project Ansible mean to ECM? Well, it’s about capturing, sharing and using your organisation’s combined knowledge to optimise your business. Project Ansible is a secure communications platform that collates and manages the flow of all your communications, allowing your workforce, wherever they are located, to work seamlessly across multiple channels, platforms and devices from one screen. The platform will bring together your social media, your ERP and CRM, your emails and cloud storage, your business applications and unified communications into one place, enabling organisations to manage their information more effectively and empowering your workforce to drive business forward and improve productivity… now that’s a powerful platform!